Question for the board:
I was told that in the late antique Roman eucharistic liturgy, the Pope (who was the only person who said liturgy in the entire Diocese of Rome - one bishop, one congregation) would say Mass on a portable wooden altar which was brought out after the Liturgy of the Word and set up in the chancel. The Pope would face into the nave of the church.
However, this is not to say he "faced the people". The person told me that at the time the churches of Rome were all basilica style (more like St. Mary Major instead the current Renaissance St. Peter's), and in the middle of the Nave a subdeacon would hold the reserved Sacrament for the duration of the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and that would be what the Pope faced (the person who described this to me drew a linkage to the role of the subdeacon in the pre-1970 high Mass). The people would not be in the nave for the Liturgy of the Eucharist, but would be behind the columns, men behind one set and women the other, while all kinds of processions and the like took place in the nave.
Any truth to the above? The person who described this claimed that he got this from one of the late Antique Roman sacramentaries.
Last edited by MarkosC; 08/22/09 04:24 PM.
